Records show unpermitted water discharge into Silver Creek; state withholds documents

The creek east of Treasure Mountain Junior High School on November 19, 2025. Photo: Marina Knight // TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah — A state investigation is underway after Park City School District contractors discharged more than half a million gallons of groundwater from the Treasure Mountain demolition site into a storm drain leading to Silver Creek, and thousands of gallons were dumped directly into the creek itself. 

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality said early water samples showed arsenic and lead contamination, but the post-spill water test results have not yet been released.

Records, obtained by TownLift through a GRAMA request, excluded some documents withheld by the DEQ, citing an active enforcement investigation and “imminent or pending litigation” related to the water discharge incident.

The Treasure Mountain site is governed by a CERCLA (Superfund) environmental agreement because the area sits atop historic mining waste. Lead- and arsenic-laden soils were excavated from the campus during a prior remediation effort, and regulators require tighter controls on excavation, dust and water movement to prevent re-exposing contaminated material.

How contaminated was the water?

DEQ environmental scientist Lyndsey Shafer said samples taken from an Aug 15 groundwater test at the demolition site “demonstrate arsenic and lead contamination” and “would not be an allowable discharge covered under the Construction Dewatering Hydrostatic Testing Permit.”

A DEQ incident report filed at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 10 — ten minutes after Hogan Construction, the general contractor, submitted a dewatering permit application, states “construction dewatering resulted in an unpermitted discharge to a creek.” The report also noted the site “has had lead in the groundwater samples before,” and cited an additional three samples taken where the construction water entered the creek and at two locations downstream from that point. 

Water test results from those three samples have not been released as part of the records request, so the contamination levels of the water discharged into the creek have not yet been confirmed. TownLift contacted the lab who conducted the Aug. 15 water quality tests and confirmed normal turnaround time for results is nine days, and for a surcharge it can be done in five and as little as one day.

How much water was discharged into the creek?

The site “has been dewatering through weir tanks to [a] Storm Drain inlet for several weeks without [a] dewatering permit,” according to a DEQ non-compliance notification.

In an email to TownLift, the Park City School district stated all water pumped into an existing municipal storm drain structure, is consistent with permitted drainage pathways already in place, contradicting the DEQ non-compliance notification. Pump logs provided by the district show nearly 500,000 gallons were pumped into the storm drain flowing into the creek between Sept. 9 and Oct. 8. 

The report also said a subcontractor hit groundwater while repairing a sewer line on Oct. 10, and then pumped water directly into the creek on the east side of the property for three hours, bypassing filtration and operating without required environmental procedure practices. Hogan estimated the Oct. 10 discharge to be 7,200 gallons. Park City School District records show a larger volume, stating the system pumped water from the site for “approximately three hours at a measured rate of 147 gallons per minute,” or about 26,496 gallons. 

Where does the School District stand on the incident?

According to an internal email sent Oct. 15 by DEQ staff, R&R Environmental, the on-site environmental consultant who discovered the Oct. 10 discharge, had advised the Park City School District to issue a press release “to address the issue proactively.” R&R Environmental’s contract was terminated shortly after the spill, and no press release was issued.

PCSD spokesman Colton Elliott said Thursday, “We have not issued a statement [about the incident] as the agencies having jurisdiction are working on a resolution moving forward.” In regards to R&R Environmental’s contract the district said that, “as the project progressed, it became evident that full-time onsite management was required. This change in scope, combined with other performance and communication factors,led to the decision to change contractors.” 

Public awareness of the incident did not come from the district or the contractor; the matter surfaced only after a whistleblower contacted TownLift and other regional media outlets on Nov. 17 with documents alleging improper groundwater discharge and raising concerns about asbestos handling within the same demolition project.

A statement from the district to TownLift clarified that Park City School District Board of Education Vice President Nick Hill said his position remains that “there has been no evidence of corner-cutting by the general contractor [Hogan Construction].”

The DEQ said its investigation remains open. A department investigator told TownLift the case is a “high priority” and that the agency could not disclose investigation details or timelines.

It has been 55 days since the DEQ was alerted to the unpermitted discharge.